Four news for the Mondays Program

It is one of the greatest jazz singers of the world, Gregory Porter, who does the opening concert at Bjørnsonhuset 15 July. This year's Artist in residency, drummer Gard Nilssen opens his

string of concerts with a world premiere of an extended version of the band sPacemonKey. Last years recipient of «SpareBank 1 SMN Jazztalent», Siril Malmedal Hauge, gives her thank you with a "pre-opening" in Storyville.

The Brooklyn-based Bhangra-brass band Red Baraat will create an amazing atmosphere from the SpareBank 1 SMN-stage in Alexandraparken.

With these artists in place, the foundation is laid for an exciting opening day of this year's festival.

A Double Grammy-winner welcomes you to our opening concert!

This mild-mannered Californian is often described as a friend of Norway. He's given his love to our country, and the love is undoubtfully mutual.

His powerful soft baryton is full to the brim with soul and gives associations to artists like Donny Hathaway and Bill Withers, but also to the jazz-singer Nat King Cole. He interpreted Cole in his last album Nat King Cole & Me, which was critically acclaimed in the press. The album was also nominated for a Grammy as "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album" in 2019. This says a lot about the wide reach of this artist.

When he first visited Moldejazz back in 2015, he shared the stage with Robert Plant at our picturesque venue, Romsdalsmuseet – a truly memorable concert. Now, when he finally returns it's to a more intimate setting at the venue, Bjørnsonhuset, which undoubtedly will suit his music perfectly.

There's sure to be a race to the finish for tickets for what looks to be a perfect opening concert to the festival.

sPacemoNkey has been an "I don't care about genre"- project for Gard Nilssen and Morten Qvenild for more than five years. This time it is expanded by inviting Stian Westerhus and Ståle Storløkken for an innovative quartet-setting.

Two very busy and famous faces on the Norwegian jazz scene has created a platform for their common interest for improvised jazz music. Morten Qvenild, known from In The Country, The National Bank, Solveig Slettahjell Slow Motion Orchestra and Susanna and The Magical Orchestra, together with Gard Nilssen – the drummer everyone wants to play with. In addition to numerous creative projects of his own, Nilssen is also this year's Artist in Residence at Moldejazz, which illustrates his role in the jazz community.

This time sPacemonKey challenges themselves by pulling in two of the most exciting improvisational musicians of our time. Guitarist, Stian Westerhus, is setting new standards for how this instrument should sound, while Ståle Storløkken expresses himself just as riveting on an organ as he does on a finger piano. Nilssen tells us his co-musicians for this project are three of his favourite musicians, who each in their own way are reasons to be doing music today.

Moldejazz is proud to host the world premiere for the expanded version of sPacemonKey.

– I have always been fascinated by different directions in jazz, and I have done many things within improvisation. Some bands have stricter limits than others, as to how much is written and composed in preparation, while some bands I have worked with, like Puma and sPacemoNkey almost always have done concerts with no safety net. When Morten and I talked about who to invite, it was natural to ask two of the most original, ground-breaking and perceptive musicians we know. Supersilent, with Ståle Storløkken, has always been my favourite band, while Stian and I have been touring the world for years with the trio Puma. I think this combination of musicians can be deadly and very interesting. This is a dream come true for me, says Nilssen about the project's backstory.

Nilssen continues to explain that this will be a concert with few limits and no safety net. There might be written segments, but absolutely no longer scores. It will be an exploration of a world where the reckless, and sometimes beautifully improvised music of sPacemoNkey, meets a disjointed and sometimes clumpy, while other times luscious and danceable rhythmic world. There will be sci-fi electronics, el-pianos from the 70s, arpeggio-synths, wild dynamics, drum-machines and drum-kits, friction, flow, dirty bass, energy, darkness, joy and decay; it will be as if Bladerunner or Stranger Things is part of the orchestra.

With Storløkken and Westerhus, musicians we know from bands like Supersilent, Humcrush, Puma, Westerhus/Endresen and Elephant 9, will expand sPacemoNkey's improvisational and compositional world.

Gard Nilssen – drums / Morten Qvenild – keys / Ståle Storløkken – keys / Stian Westerhus - guitar.

The band that got Alexandraparken boiling in 2010 is back!

NB! Notice the change in concert-time from last year;
doors open at 19.00 and the concert starts at 22.00.

This July it's finally a chance to get a second serving! Traditional Bhangra-dance and music come from the Punjab region, reaching into both India and Pakistan. However, Red Baraat is, of course, no traditional Bhangra-band. They've made an expression that's genuinely their own, where elements of jazz, brass, funk and raw punk-energy are melted together into a dance-inflicting elixir. The band was formed, and is lead, by dhoul-practitioner, Sunny Jain.

Their newest album Sound the people were released in June last year and made its mark on the top ten-chart of world music albums. The album can boast good placements on best-seller-lists across Europe. Indie-rock website, Stereogum, noted that, "The album is full of moments that hit you with the power of a spiritual awakening" – quite an achievement, to say the least!

Look forward to a frenzy of an opening day at the SpareBank 1 SMN-stage in our venue, Alexandraparken!

The Sula-born singer has not been resting on her laurels – active in several projects, among others one with the established guitarist, Jacob Young, and their release Last things. Her largest piece of work still remains her debut as a solo artist, Uncharted Territory, that released 1 February on Jazzland Recordings.

Her music's a perfect blend of pop-energy and accessible jazz in a singer-songwriter tradition, flush with melodic freshness. Here are many different atmospheres, variations of light and shadow, but there's always a basic tone of something happy in every song. The record has received amazing reviews in the Norwegian press.

– Together with her formidable crew, the singer-songwriter […] lands her ambitious project softly and steadily, and reigns the foreign domain in (and with) a convincing set." And Aftenposten follows: An element becoming more and more evident is her versatility and naturally she finds the essence of a song. She catches its distinctive features and shapes them in her own image, says Terje Mosnes, writer for the Norwegian jazz magazine, Jazz i Norge.

The concert at Moldejazz is with a full band, including strings. It is only right for one of the greatest vocal talents of the country to be the one to "pre-open" the festival in Storyville Monday 15 July at 16.00.

Martin Myhre Olsen - saxophones / Torgeir Hovden Standal - guitars / Kjetil André Mulelid - piano, organ / Martin Morland - bass / Henrik Lødøen - drums / Adrian Waade - violin / Isa Caroline Holmesland - viola / Kaja Fjellberg Pettersen - cello.